Code-signal device.



A-.L.S 0HM. CODE SIGNAL DEVICE.

APPLICATION FILED AUG.'23| I913.

1,144,870. Patented June 29, 191.5.

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CODE SIGNAL DEVICE.

APPLICATION FILED Aue.23. 1913.

1,144,870, Patented June 29, 1915.

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CODE SIGNAL DEVICE. APPLICATION FILED M1 1913.

'- Patented June 29, 1915.

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ALFRED L. SOHM, OF dHIOiGO, ILLINOIS, -ASSIG NQR 'IO 'BOHM ELECTRIC :BIGNAL '&

I RECORDING-COMPENY,OFCHIGAGO, ILLINOIS, KGOBPOMTIONOF ARIZONA.

.OODESIGNAL DEVICE.

' To all whom it may concern:

Be it "known that 'I, ALFRED L. SOHM a citizen ofjthe' United States, residing at C i-, cage, in the county of Cook and -State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inGode-Signal Devices, of'which the following is a full, clear, eoncise and exact descri tion reference being a P i o a drum 8, to which had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of'this specification.

My invention relates to signaling apparatus and contemplates the improved code signaling'me'chanism for automatically giving a selected code signal in'factories, shops,

yards, and similar places where it is desired to attract the attention of different .persons either to respond to the telephone, 'orto call at some prescribed central location.

x It is the primary object of'my invention to provide adevice wherein'diiierent codes may be readily selected and wherein 'the manual acts are limited to the selection and the setting of'the device into 0 eration.

My invention provides e ective means whereby the codes may "be-changed or rearranged and whereby new codes may -'be added. v

Further features of my invention .are found in the means for operating the signals, so that the code may'be'repeated a number of times for each setting, and in the various details of constructionto whichI shall refer when I take up the drawings for description.

My device is electrically operated and the code mechanism, therefore, consists in electrical contact mechanism which controls the circuit of any kindof audible or visual s1gnals, the signaling devices being arranged in the circuit in such a-manner that the signal may be given at Various points simultaneously. i I shall now refer to the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a diagrammatic representation of an embodiment of my invention, this figure showing the circuit arrangement "employed; Fig. 2 is a plan :viewof-a specific form of the device ofmy invention; Fig. 3

is a side elevational view thereof; Fig. 'is a" fragmentary 'view taken on the plane ofthe line 4-4 of Fig.2,lbdking in the direction indicated by the arrowstFig. 5*is a-plan viewof the under side of'my--device; Fig. 6

Specification of Letters Intent. Patented. J 11119 29,1915

Application flle'd August 23, ms. serial No. 788,238.

is a'fragmentary sectional view taken with I ;plane of the 11ne66 of Fi .'2 and looking 1n"the direction indicated y the arrows "and Fig. 7 is a detailed view, insection, itak'enontheplane o'f'theline 7-'7 dfFig.'6

and'flooking in the direction indi ated by "the arrows.

Referring firstto 'I,j ]have'illustrated later, mounted upon a sha'ft 9 to rotatein shall refer in detail the-direction of the arrow A. A wiper '10 makes-constant contact with the drum and a Tnumber of contactpoints 11, 11 are ariranged on the periphery of the-drum in a common plane at right. angles to the axis of the shaft. Each set of these contact points 11 11 form a code'signal, as will be described presently, and in the arrangement shown in-Fig. 1 'four of such-sets are provided so that the code-will be repeated-three times. The particular code -tliere:shown is arranged to give a short ring1followed by a.

The other pole of the battery-is connected with the'W-ip'er 10', as illustrated, i The armature 15 of the relay 14, whicifarmature is normally held in aretracted-position, is ermanentl connected with one side of the attery an is adapted to make engagement, when attracted by .the core of the relay, with a'contact 16 WhiCh1iS connected -to-one'line limb a. The other line limb b is connected with the other pole of thebattery sothat the relay contact controls the line circuit. A

plurality of signals such asbells,'are" "bridged across the line limbs a and'b and it will now be seenjthat the relay'controlsthe circuit through these bells and the batter y and that the-relay, in turn, is controlled'b the 'drum' contacts. The batter B may-,be made small so that, while it sti 1 may operate the relay, 'it will'not causeany excessive or destructive i sparking at :the drum contacts and, if -th1s battery"is insuflicient'to sired. In this Way some special signal, man- Y ually operated, may be given. 7

Referring now to the remaimng figures,

- it will be seen that the shaft 9, upon which the drum 8 is mounted, is, in turn, mounted upon a pair of trunnions 20, 20, which are removably held in place by means of clips 21, 21, pivoted at 22, 22, u on u rights 23 which are secured to the ase-p ate 24 of the device, by means of screws 25, At one end, the drum 8 is provided .Wlth the reduced portion 26 with which .the wiper 10, permanently grounded to the base-plate 24, makes. constant electrical engagement. At this end, the drum is also rovided with a comparatively large gear w eel 27 which meshes with a driv ng inion 28 mounted upon a shaft 29 in the c ockwork frame 30, 30. The clockwork frame supports the mechanism for driving the drum, through the medium of the gears referred to, and this mechanism comprises the main ring 31, the main gear wheel 32, and the pinion 33 which is mounted upon the shaft 29 already referred to. A pinion 34 meshes.

with the pinion 28 and carries with'it an escapement wheel 35, with which an escapement 36 coiiperates in a manner well known in the art. This 'escapement is'illustrated in Fig. 3 but is omitted from Fig. 2 in order not to hide the structure below it. The

- winding shaft 37 carries a ratchet wheel 38,

with which a pawl 39, held in engagement withthe ratchet wheel by means of a spring 40, coiiperates, this pawl being pivoted at 41 to the gear wheel 32 already referred to. The winding shaft'37 is provided with a crank 42 having a handle 43, and it will be seen that when the crank is turned in the direction of the arrow a: (Fig. 3) the ratchet will be revolved to catch the awl at an advanced point and the spring, w ich it will'be understood is connected with the winding shaft, is wound to the proper degree, as-well-known to those skilled in the art. At the inner endof the winding shaft 37, I provide a small arm. 44 which is adapted to engage-a lug 45 on the winding mechanism support 30 when the-winding has reached the required degree. I 4

It will be seen that the arrangement whichhas been described places the drum 8 under the tension ofthe spring 31 sothat the drum'tends to rotate in the direction of the arrow 3 However, rotation in this dia lug 47 secured to the side of the um.

This'rocking lever 46 is normally held in its arresting position, against a stop 48, b means of a spring 49. The. winding sha t 37 carries a cam 50,, which, when the handle 43 is turned in the direction of the arrow. v I

w engages the rocking lever and moves it about its ivot so that it will release the lug 47 an will omit the drum to rotate.

The rotation of t e drumis governed by the escapement mechanism and the cam 50 is so arranged and is of such size that it will release the rocking lever 46 before the lug 47 returnsto its initial position, so that the rockin lever will be in its arresting position w en the lu reaches it. Therefore, after the handle as been turned and released, the drum will make one complete revolution and at the end of this revolution will be arrested, the parts being then .in their normal position.

The drum 8 is provided with a multiplicity of holes 51which are arranged in a number of circumferential series, each sevries in a plane of its own at right angles to the axis of the shaft. A plurality of inter changeable pins 52, with enlarged heads,

are arrange in various holes and the pins of .each series are given code arrangements, as will be descri ed presently, and are adapted to be engaged by the contact spring '12 heretofore referredto. As clearly illustrated in the. drawings, the contaet spring 12 carries the contact point 12", and is .mounted against "a stout spring 53"upon av s 55,55 excarriage 54 riding upon the re tending transversely of the device and mounted in brackets 56, 56. The rods 55 are insulated from the metallic base-plate 24 and the' general framework of the device by means of' hard rubber bushings 57, "57 and they form part of a circuit which will be described presently. The contactpoint 12 extends through an o ening in the stout s ring 53, which is provi ed so as to prevent t e lighter s ring 12 from making contact with the be y of the drum, and the entire .arrangement is clamped to the carriage by of the rods 55. v s An insulating plug 60 is carried-by the under side of the carriage 54 and a screw-61 .threads .into said. plug and holds a friction sleeve 62 in place. T

e arrangement which I have just described extends downwardly from the carriage 54 and passes through an.

elongated transverse slot 63 and also a slot 64longitud1nal1y dlsposedin a lever .65 pivoted at 66 to the under side of the baselate 24. This lever 65 extends toward the rout of the machine, where it is provided with a leaf spring 67 which carries a finger piece 68, a pointer 69, and a plunger 70 wh ch is adapted to enter any one of a series of pockets 71, 71 arranged in an arc in the under side of the base-plate. The plunger, arrangement is a. lock which is adapted to hold the lever65 in any position into which it has been angularly adjusted by the. manipulation of the finger piece 68. "It will be seen that the to of the base-plate 24, at the front, is rovide with a scale of numbers with w ioh the pointer 69 coiiperates. In the specific in stance illustrated, these numbers run from one to 25 and each number represents one of the series of peri heral openings, or one of the series of co e contacts disposed in said openings, on the drum 8. Thus when the pointer points to .14, the indication isthat the contact point 12 on the s ring 12 is in alinement or in register @Wit the fourteenth row of holes in the drum, counting from the left. This means that the code contacts in that particular series are those which will be engaged by the contact 12 and are those which will control the circuit when the drum is set into operation. The lever 65 can be moved to any other position, to bring the contact point 12' into alinement with any other series of contacts on thedrum, by first depressing the finger iece (S8 to release the plunger .to permit the ever 65' to be swung in one direction or the other,

.and the proper alinement in the newly selooted position will be determined by the engagement of the lunger in the corresponding pocket after t e selection has been made by means of the pointer on thescale.

The pins 52, 52 whichhave'been described are the same as the pins 11, 11, referred to in Fig. 1, and as there described, are arranged in code relation, the disposition be ing such that the same code signal will be repeated a number of .times.

The drawings illustrate the device with the code signal selected being No. 14, and it will be seen that there the signal given will be a long ring followed by a short ring, the touching or nearly touching pins amounting to a continuous contact piece. If the selector were moved over to No.4, the signal would be two rin s ofmedium length. Obviously, each of the seriescould beprovlded with its own contact pinsorany lesser number of the series may be utilized. The pins are interchangeable"'a nd any code may be sccured and, u to the capacity of the machine, any num er of 'codesmay be selected from. v i

The relay 14 is mounted upon-hliebaseplate 24 and, since the particular construction of this relay is no part of my present 66 invention,,its1i1flicesto say that the armature.

- reference to ,15 is normally retracted, as pointed out with Fig. 1, and that, when the WlIldlngS of the relay are energized, the

armature ,is attracted to make engagement with the contact member 16.

The rods 55 are connected with one terminal of the relay, by means of the insulated conductor 72, and the other terminal of the relay windmgs isconnected with the binding 0st .73 by means of an insulated conducjtor 4. The binding post is grounded to f the base of the device, as is also the armature. The armature contact is connected Wlth the bmdm post 76 by means of the conductor 77 an these electrical connections are the same asthose pointedout in the descrlption of Fig, 1. The battery is connected across the binding posts 73 and 75 and the line is connected across the posts 73 v i so and 76.

At one side of the machine, I'provide a. button 17, which operates a' spring 78 grounded to the frame 24 and, when the button is depressed, it makes contact with aninsulated sprin 18 which is connected W1th one of the ro s 55 by means of an insn'lated conductor 79. It will be seen that when the button 17 is depressed, circuit is closed in shunt of the drum contacts and any special manual signal may be given.

As before pointed out, the contact between ,the pins on the drum and the spring 12 controls the circuit of the relay which, in

turn, controls the line circuit. By moving the finger piece 68 one wayor the other, any

off places at the same time. For instance, if

a person whose number is 14 is desired, the finger piece is moved to No. 14, the contact 12 is thereby brought into proper alinement with the corresponding series of code contacts, but because of a blank space .8, illustrated in Fig. 6, there will be no immediate signal. The handle is then turned to wind the device and upon release the drum begins to rotate. The drum makes a com lete revolution and during this revolution t e various contactsin the selected series are brought into engagement with the spring.- The proper code signal is-thus given and the arrangement is, preferably such that the code signal is repeated several times. -After the revolution of the drum .is completed, itis automatically. stopped, as heretofore de scribed, and if desired, the same operations may be gone over, without; new- -se1ection. In a factory, forinstance, the button 17 may be used to signal the starting-and stop:

ping times or as a fireWarningbr for=-any other especial purpose;-

I claim as new a'nddesire by Letters Patent: c 1. In combination a metal drum having .aplurality of rows of sockets therein""re-' movable metal pins'secured'in said 7 ets, said pins forming a pluralit of code surfaces on the circumference said drum, 0.

1. metallic spring forclosingicontact with said f code surfaces,-apin mechanically connected to said' spring but insulated therefrom an index plate having a plurality of in 'cia thereupon corresponding to said'code sur faces, said drum mounted on said late and a slotted lever having a handle an pointer movable over said index plate, said pinengagin said slot. F 251i1ia code signaling device a metallic "g0 drum, a plurality of rows of soc etsin said drum, metal contact pins. interchangeably fitting into said sockets, said pins havin heads substantially contiguous when sai pins'are inserted'infiadjacent sockets, said pins thereby forming code surfaces of various length, a contact spring having a sharp point-for engaging said pins to close a circuit therethrough, said spring shiftable into of various lengths, a contact sprlng for co-' ins to close a circuit-for eriods of various engths, le into engagement with operating with 'the heads of said said spring shifta 40 said ins. Y p

. 4. n a code transmitter, a rotatable drum,

a plurality of code projections of different length, said projections co'm rising a plus rality of conducting pins p aced adjacent 4 5"6;1Ch other on said drum, a relatively stationary contact for making electrical contact with said projecting surfaces, and means to rotate said drum to bring said code projections and said stationary contact into e ectrical connection.

I 5. In a code transmitter, arotatable drum 3luralit of projecting code. surfaces of surface of sa1d drum, said pro'ections comis prising a plurality of conducting pins mounted ad acent each otheron said drum,

an adjustable contact comprising a sprin having a pointed pin mounted thereon, sai pin extending intojthe path of said code so pro'ections, and to rotate said drum -to ringsaid projections in contact with 6. a code transmitter, a base plate, a

rotatable drum mounted on said base plate,

15 a plurality of rowsj'of code projections on rent ength arranged in rows on the tremity of said-spring,.a I stantlally co-extensive with sa1d contact .gu m

said drum, 9. -plurality of guide bars," saidbars mounted on said 'base plate parallel to 7 said drum, a movable carriage mounted on said guide bars, a spring'contact for making electrical connection with said code proiectio'ns 'on said carriage and automatic ocking means for shifting said carriage to bring said spring in register with said rows of projections.

7. In a code transmitter, a base plate, a

rotatable drum mounted on said'base plate,

a plurality of rows of code projections on sa1d drum, a lurality ofstationary guide bars, said lgl'ui e bars mounted on said base plate para el to said drum, a slidable carriage mounted on said guidebars, a contact on said carriage for making electrical contact with said projections a slot in said base platebelow said guide ars, a pin on said carriage projecting through-said slot,

a lever mounted on the lower surface of said base plate, said lever having a slot therein for engaging said pinto adjust the carriage,

andmeansto drive said drum.

8. In a code transmitter, a base plate, a rotatable drum having a jecting code surfaces, a p urality of guide bars mounted on said base plate parallel to said drum, a slidablecarriage mounted on said guide bars, a spring on said carriage having its extremity extending intothe path of said code projections, 'said carriage being cut. away at one side to expose the guidebar therethrough, and aspring on 'said'carriage contacting at all times with said exposed portion of the guide bar. i

9. In a code transmitter, a base plate, a rotatable drum mounted on said base plate,

a luralit of rows ofcode' projections of -di erent ength on said drum, said projec- 10 5 tions comprising a plurality of contiguous pins mounted'on sa1d drum, a pair of stationary guide bars mounted on said base, a slidable carriage mounted on said guide bars, a s ring havinga contact pin mounted on the rec end thereof for engaging the code projections on said drum, a lever for shifting said carriage, and automatic lockr g means bearing a pointer for moving said lever. f

10. In combination, a drum'having a plurality of code projections of various lengths thereon, said'code projections com rising a pluralit of contiguous pins on sa1d drum,

a shifta le carriage, a contact spring on said carriage, a pointed contact pin on the exgulde spring subspring,.an d having a guide opening for sa d contact pin. 1 f n co%bination,la b|lt1se plfate, a rotaa e rum avmgapura o ro'ect' code surfaces, said ends is urfa des befig formed of a'pluralit of removable contiguous pins, a pair 0 guide bars mounted 130 luralityof m, a

on said base, a slidable carriage on said bars, said carriage being cut away to expose a'portion of one ofsaid guide bars, a spring on said carriage contacting with said exposed guide bar, a contact spring on said carriage, said spring having a pointed contact pin on its extremity, a guide spring for holding said contact spring and pin in proper position with respect to said drum, and means to rotate said; drum.

12, In combination, a. rotatable drum, a

spring-motor to drive said drum, a stop on said-drum, a relatively stationary stop for engaging the stop on said drum, said spring motor having a winding shaft, and aycam on saidlshaft for tripping said stationary 5 stop to release the drum upon initial movement of said shaft to wind the spring motor. 13. In a code transmitter, a rotatable .drum having a'plurality of rows of projecting contact surfaces, a guide, 'a carriage upon said guide, a sprmg on sand carriage p for contacting with the code surface of said drumfan index plate having a plurality of locking sockets, a lever for shifting said carriage, said lever having a spring extension, an index above said index plate and a locking pin beneath said index late for cooperating with said locking so ets, said table drum mounted on said spring extension. 14. In combination a base late, a rotaase plate, a plurality of rows of code projections mounted on said drum, a guide bar mounted on said base parallel to. the axis of said drum, a

carriage mounted, on said guide bar, a'

spring on said carriage, said spring 006perating with said code projections, a pivoted lever mounted on the bottom of said base plate, said lever having a slot therein, said carriage having a pin projection through the base plate and into the slot in said pivoted lever, a spring extension on my name this 20th day of August, A. D.

ALFRED L. SOHM, Witnesses:

ALLEN C. OHLBERG, Camo1v A. Wmrsnm.

indbx and said pin beingmou nted on said 

